Chapters 26/27 - "The Radley Place had ceased to terrify me, but it was no less gloomy, no less chilly under its great oaks, and no less uninviting." Explore this with reference to Scout's development. (Nicholas Kolbas)

Scout's summer taught her much more about life issues out in the world, making her look down upon her earlier frights at the Radley Place with a whole new idea of problems. The problems throughout Scout's past few school years mainly consisted of her fear toward the Radley Place and more specifically Boo Radley. Truly, her one concern when she woke up in the mornings was Jem's latest attempt to scare Boo out of the house. This past summer, Scout got her first look at real issues and frights of the world around her. Witnessing Atticus's scene at the courtroom, Scout learned about the important everyday problems adults have to face. This makes Scout look back at her petty frights and concerns with Boo Radley during previous years and realize how childish it seems and was. "I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley" (Lee 324). She then goes on to describe their shameful attempts to try to draw Boo out of the house. This quote demonstrates Scout's advancement in understanding how she has changed over past years. She realizes for the first time what it must have felt like in Arthur's shoes, a group of kids creeping up on his property at night, sticking notes on fishing poles in his house, and so on. This illustrates Scouts growth recently, not just changing, but realizing her changes as well. However, still being a child, the Radley Place with its gloomy oak trees and creaking shutters still creeps Scout out a little. Boo is still a mysterious person to Scout in the book so far, and although she is starting to understand the world's everyday issues more and more, she still leaves a place inside herself for her childhood fears of the creepy and secretive Boo Radley.

Chapters 24-25 - What is the significance of the "roly-poly"? What does this incident tell you about Scout and Jem? - Geoffrey Goose

The significance of the "roly-poly" is it shows that Scout is still young, and immature, and that Jem is more delicate and, humane person. After Jem tells Scout to gently put the "roly-poly" down, Scout is in great amazement about Jem's behavior. "Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I" (Lee 320). When Scout calls Jem a girl it means that Jem is becoming more empathetic, and sympathetic towards life. That no matter who or what this thing is, Jem will treat it with respect. Jem is turning into Atticus more and more as the book goes on. Atticus always hears the full story no matter who or what is saying it. As the book is ending and Harper Lee is wrapping up, she is showing how Jem will turn into an Atticus like character.

How do you think Harper Lee will show Jem's aging in the last chapters?

24/25 What is the significance of the "roly-poly"? What does this incident tell you about Scout and Jem? (Amy Khoshbin)

       The roly-poly symbolizes Jem and Scout’s maturity and growth from the beginning of the novel, and demonstrates their beliefs separate from those of Atticus. After spotting a roly-poly on the floor, Scout goes down to play with it, but once she becomes bored of it, she decides to kill it. Although she thinks of it as nothing more than a bug, Jem disagrees and says that it would be wrong to kill it because, “they don’t bother you,” (Lee 320). This same philosophy was used when explaining the difference between a mockingbird and a bluejay, in showing that it is wrong to hurt something simply because you can. The symbolism of the roly-poly also highlights the moral questions Jem had after the verdict of Tom Robinson’s case. Although the corrupted views of many white supremacists living in Maycomb have influenced their generation, Jem is able to see reason. This is explained by Atticus when he says, “So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason,” (Lee 295). This quote not only shows Jem’s immense amount of moral development separate from simply repeating the lessons of his father, but it also illustrates his ability to empathize with someone by seeing them as a human being instead of objectifying them into nothing more than a racist stereotype. As for Scout, her idea of justice is much more defined. Although the roly-poly itself is causing no harm, other bugs such as mosquitos do. This is similar to Mrs. Farrow’s statement, ”We can educate ‘em till we’re blue in the face, we can try till we drop to make Christians out of ‘em, but there’s no lady safe in her bed these nights,” (Lee 311). This quote is saying  that underneath it all, every black man is the same, so even though the roly-poly is causing no harm, the fact that it belongs to the same group as something harmful like a mosquito, it is therefore ethical for it to be killed, much like Tom Robinson who caused no harm himself, but is associated with a stereotype that led to his conviction. 

Do you think that Jem believes that it is wrong to kill the roly-poly simply because Atticus has taught him so, or because he’s developing his own moral compass? 

Chapter 24-25 What is the content of the editorial published in the paper? Why is this confusing to Scout? What is the significance of this? (Fiona H)

Mr. Underwood's editorial in the paper discussed Tom's chance at winning the case, and comparing him to a songbird. Towards the end of chapter 25, Scout is reading Mr. Underwood's article. "How could this be so, I wondered, as I read Mr. Underwood's editorial. Senseless killing...Then Mr. Underwood's meaning became clear: ... Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed" (Lee 323). Scout is confused by how Tom's death could have been "senseless killing" when Tom had been given a fair trial, had Atticus Finch fight for him, and then had twelve men agree on whether he was guilty or not. She realizes that Mr. Underwood is saying that Atticus has done all he could to save Tom, but that every man knew in his gut that once the case had began, Tom had already lost it. This is significant because it shows that although everything had gone as good as it could have: fair trial; good lawyer, nobody could convince twelve men to be be fair to a black man, which shows that they are not empathetic, and go out of their way to avoid trouble and controversy. The mention that Tom was dead once Mayella screamed is significant because if Mr. Ewell and Mayella hadn't decided to take the accusation to court, then life would go on as normal for everyone. But because they did decide to take it to court and draw attention to what Tom supposedly did, the public would automatically believe the Ewells' side of the story, because they're white. All in all, Scout was confused about why Mr. Underwood thinks Tom's death was irrational, if he was given a fair trial, which Scout begins to understand that it is because the jury and public had already decided Tom was guilty the minute the case had been brought to attention.

Do you think that Tom's death was "senseless killing?" Why or why not?

Chapter 22/23 -Explain Maudie’s two important quotes about Atticus in Chapter 22. How is she showing her support? (Gavin)

In chapter 22 Miss Maudie says two quotes that show that she is fully supportive of Atticus. One of Miss Maudie's quotes that shows support of Atticus is "I simply want to tell you that there are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father is one of them," (Lee 288). This quote shows that Miss Maudie is in support of Atticus because she knows that other white lawyers would not want to defend Tom Robinson due to a lot of bad scrutiny from the citizen of Maycomb. Also, it shows that she supports him because it shows that she respects Atticus for what he is doing and how he stands up for what he believes in. Another quote showing that Miss Maudie supports Atticus is "We're so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we've got men like Atticus to go for us," (Lee 288). By saying this she is showing her support for Atticus because she supports that he did everything he could to help Tom Robinson. Both these quotes show that Miss Maudie supports Atticus and that not everyone in Maycomb is against Atticus for defending Tom Robinson.


On Page 289 Miss Maudie is talking about how it is not a coincidence that Judge Taylor chose Atticus to defend Tom Robinson. What do you think about this? Do you think it is a coincidence or did Judge Taylor pick Atticus for a reason?

Chapter 20/21: Explore Atticus’ words and actions in his closing argument. What makes his argument so effective? Why does Harper Lee do this? (Sharon)

When Atticus is telling his closing argument he made it effective by making it personal. "...he was talking to the jury as if they were folks on the post office corner." (Lee 271) With him doing this, Atticus is trying to make the jury feel like that they aren't in a court but a space that they're comfortable in. In the closing argument Atticus is trying to tell the men in the jury to look pass the fact that Tom Robinson is a black man. Look at the fact that he's a human being with a wife and kids. This in a way reminds me of the time when Scout made Mr. Cunningham realize that Atticus was almost just like him. Harper Lee does this because it shows Atticus' personality more, it shows that he really is trying to fight for Tom Robinson. Even if he was forced into it, he's still trying his best to win the case.

Chapters 22/23: Explain Jem’s discussion of “Background” and different kinds of folks. How does that help you understand Jem’s feelings expressed at the end of chapter 23 (302). Why did Harper Lee put this here? (Eve)

Jem believes there are 4 different kinds of people in Maycomb.   First there are regular people who are divided into different groups by money, education and social status.  Then there are the Cunninghams who are poorer, less educated, but hard working farmers or laborers. After that there is the "white trash" or the uneducated white folk who don’t have jobs. These are people like the Ewells. They are at the very bottom of the white social ladder. Finally there are the Negroes.  In the segregated south, no matter how kind, hard working, or smart they are, Negroes will always be looked down on and definitely not treated like equals.  Scout does not agree with Jem and tells him "No, everybody's gotta learn, nobody is born knowin'. That Walter's as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothin's wrong with him. Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks" (Lee 304).  This shows that Scout sees everyone in the white community equally and based on their opportunity to education.   Jem was certain that Atticus was going to win the case but it wasn't likely due to the fact that the jury simply could not let a black man be innocent. For all of Jem's life, he was accustomed to a simple world, but now that he is older his view on the world will change.  He is starting to see how mean the people in their small quiet town can be.  I think Harper Lee put this in the book to show how the children are beginning to grow up and mature. Jem believes he has a firm understanding on the background of everyone in Maycomb but Scout cannot make sense of it.